Published 4:00 am, Thursday, June 4, 1998

1998-06-04 04:00:00 PDT San Francisco -- Saying it cannot comply with San Francisco's domestic partners law, the Salvation Army told City Hall officials yesterday that it will scale back three programs for senior citizens and the homeless -- and no longer accept city money.

The Salvation Army, one of the largest nonprofit social service organizations in San Francisco, advised city officials of its decision in hand-delivered letters. Salvation Army employees also received letters.

The news came a day after the city marked the anniversary of its landmark domestic partners law. Under the ordinance, any business that contracts with the city and provides spousal health insurance to married couples must provide the same benefits to the gay, lesbian and unmarried domestic partners of their employees.

Salvation Army officials said the ordinance greatly conflicts with their organization's Christian beliefs in recognizing the importance of the family, and that negotiations over the last 11 months with city officials have failed to reach a compromise on the issue.

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"Please know this is a very difficult decision, and one that we did not make without much prayerful thought, deliberation and counsel," Salvation Army Lieutenant Colonel Richard Love said in a letter to employees.

"We simply cannot agree to be in compliance of the ordinance," Love, the divisional commander for the Salvation Army's Golden State division, told The Chronicle last night. "We do not view it as a matter of discrimination. We offer a full range of benefits to our employees."

Love stressed that his organization is not shutting down operations in San Francisco. "We're certainly not pulling out," he said. "We've been here 118 years."

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The city contracts for $3.5 million represent only a fraction of the Salvation Army's $18 million budget for services in San Francisco, Love noted.

The money helped fund a senior nutrition meals program providing 1,700 hot meals for elderly people each day; a drug rehabilitation program; and the Lifeboat Lodge on Turk Street, which provides 86 beds for homeless men and women.

Without the city money, the programs will be "reduced in size and scope," Love said. In addition, sixty employees, mostly administrators and site managers for the senior meals program, will lose their jobs with the Salvation Army after September 1.

The organization has kept the three city-funded programs fully operational while negotiations with the city have been under way and will continue to do so until September, Love said.

Last night, the mayor's office held out hope that the organization and City Hall would work things out.

Kandace Bender, Mayor Willie Brown's press secretary, said the mayor would like time to discuss the issue with the Salvation Army before it takes any action.

"A number of agencies have thought they couldn't comply with the ordinance, but found they could, including Catholic Charities," Bender said.

Catholic Charities, the human services arm of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, had said the domestic partners ordinance conflicted with its religious teachings. But the organization, which has about $5.6 million in city contracts, eventually agreed to provide health insurance for anyone designated by an employee, whether it was a family member, a domestic partner or another person.

Salvation Army officials said the stopping point in its negotiations came with the city's refusal to grant the organization an exemption. The city awards exemptions to the ordinance for those contractors providing a sole and crucial service to the city.

"We asked for and did not receive a sole source exemption," Love said, adding that the city currently grants over 300 such extensions to other service providers. "We were never given a reason."

The Salvation Army has had a rocky relationship with City Hall over its policy on gays and lesbians. In January 1996, the Board of Supervisors put a $65,000 emergency shelter fund on hold after becoming aware of a letter written by a Salvation Army official condemning homosexuality.

The letter was described as outdated by Salvation Army officials, who have denied that the organization discriminates against gays and lesbians. The funds were later released to the organization.

Love described the departure as an "amiable parting" and expressed regret that an agreement could not be reached.

"We were hopeful," Love said. "We have no particular animosity toward the city. We simply have reached an impasse where we cannot be in compliance."

Salvation Army workers echoed that regret last night.

At the Bridgeway residence hotel on Turk Street, which houses about 100 recovering substance abuse clients, director Patrick Granat said the Salvation Army had "run into a series of dead ends" in attempting to settle the matter.

"The relationship is over," Granat said. "The divorce papers have been filed. And who gets hurt the most in a divorce? The kids or, in this case, the clients?"

Granat said the hotel, like many other Salvation Army programs in San Francisco, is independently funded and will not be affected by the dispute.